A Crash On Sinister Island
by FoxBurrow
Summary: When StarFox is marooned on a gigantic comet with a load of passengers & prisoners it becomes a fight for survival, among themselves and another life form on the partial planet. Can they stick together or will their shady pasts catch up to them? A tribute to the great author Cpt. Fox and Chaos Leader
1. Chapter 1

A Crash On Sinister Island

Chapter 1.

A man sat quietly across the table from the pilot, his large binder opened and he pulled out a pen from his coat "Thanks for coming Mr. Lombardi. We'd like you to fill out this statement. Give us an idea of the events leading up to the crash."

There was silence and then the creaking of his chair as he leaned over struggling to reach the ballpoint pen in front of him.  
He handled the writing utensil weakly in his injured arm, the sling impaired his movement and finally Falco rid himself of it.  
The paper had sections which he proceeded to fill in accordance with the information he held, however the pilot took breaks to relieve his arm.

"Just tell us anything you remember about the flight." His eyes glazed over the paper as if he could see through it, the memories flooding into his mind.

Back to a time not long ago...

In the reflection of sunlight which seemed just as bright with eyes closed a balmy warmth laid over him in a blanket of comfort.  
His pupils ached from contracting to their limits, it had been a long four days stranded here among the rocks which retained heat as well as the Great Fox.  
The sweat pulled out of his body and ran down his back soaking the cotton shirt on him and for a brief moment he related with the desert.  
No vegetation was in sight, even the scarce cacti struggled to survive in these rough hot lands stretching farther than sight.  
Then again it probably went on further past the mirage of heat waves dancing across the sand and dry cracked lake bed.

It made him wanna undress in the heat and bathe in the suns' rays, then it occurred for the final time Fox's words "Watch the crew."

Falco's relaxed face slide over with an annoyed expression 'What do I look like. A babysitter?'

He slid off the brown jacket that tightly fit round his defined physic, and then something roosted on his shoulder.  
It wasn't heavy but just enough to garner his attention, as it rolled down his bare back a scent of sweet tangy fragrance blew over him.  
And then the gentleness of a familiar sensation hit, the eyes of a woman followed him but he acted oblivious a hidden yet smug smile on his beak.  
A quiet rustle of feet on the metal staircase confirmed his assumption, his back still facing carnal eyes.

Then rolling over onto his back an almost burning metal shingle contacting him "Enjoying the view sweetness?"

The girl rolled her eyes so hard it was almost painful, she pulled herself up onto the surface of the spacecraft.

Her towering shadow covered his light, still without the remote effect on his smirk "When are they gonna be back Falco?"

Those black sunglasses dropped down his beak revealing a set of confident eyes "Easy there beautiful. We'll be off this rock before you know it. Now you wanna move? You're in my light."

She kept her position except with arms crossed and an unsatisfied cocking of the hips, he sighed putting down the magazine of spacecraft porn "What am I being interrogated?"

"Just answer the question Lombardi." He smiled and slipped his hands behind him supporting the lower neck.

His enjoyment of her curious nature only added to her frustration, "We've been here four days. We deserve to know if their efforts to launch the M.A.S. have succeeded."

"Do I look like I give a damn? Right now it's your job to stay down in the ship with the rest until I say otherwise." He smiled harshly and continued "Now go back to the hull."

Dana's mouth almost opened, she didn't know what to say and was just surprised "Enjoy your tan jerk."

She stepped aside letting the bright beams of sunlight hit his unprotected eyes, Falco's eyes squinted until his shades came up over them "I will thanks."

Dana stretched her leg reaching the hand railing of the staircase, once she had a good footing pushed off the wing.  
A gust of wind took the magazine and blew it out of Falco's hands 'Damn it' he watched it sail away and then glide down out of sight.  
He sat up and then looked down at the communicator between his legs, the pilot turned it on and lowered the volume since static bled heavily into the speaker creating a rather irritating noise.

Falco keyed the radio transmitter "Fox (static)? Fox how's the M.A.S. installation coming?" he listened for any response but it didn't come for ten minutes.

"Not good I'm afraid. Cannot find an adequate position to launch the beacon. Krystal thinks this planet may not rotate."

"And?"

"In effect we'd be firing the beacon in the wrong direction. Corneria is on the opposing side of this system."

The radio went silent on Falco's side, he swore softly and keyed again "Copy." in frustration he tossed the radio aside before slipping on his coat.

'Makes sense. Now we know why this side of the planet is so dry.' Click, click his boots rattled the metal stairs, the welcoming shade of the wing dropped twenty degrees in a cool haven.  
The radio chirped when his gait entered into the dead zone 'Perfect, the one time we decide to make an honest living by transporting bystanders to Corneria this happens.'

He stopped, an unsettling feeling of danger lurked behind him "If you wanted to attack me Dana you should've done it earlier while I was sleeping." the girl came out from the shadow beneath the staircase "Am I going to have to put those cuffs back on?"

Her fiery green eyes pierced the darkness touching him once again, he lifted up his hand and twirled the silver cuffs in his fingers "You know for a girl who's at the end of her sentence you sure wanna prolong it."

She continued in front of him and descended down the stairs to the hull hatch, Falco watched carefully.  
Her appearance didn't fool him, he knew all too well what she was...Dana was smart and that's what made her dangerous.


	2. Chapter 2

A Crash On Sinister Island

Author's note: Okay it's a little boring and skimping on some detail but I'll get there. Right now I'm focusing on the characters. Keep posted I'll be updating this rather quickly. By the way I am aiming to make this my first complete story. I've written two but never finished them.

Chapter 2.

Krystal's wrist wiped the stinging perspiration off her forehead, she stacked another rock on top of the others "Here keep hydrated." Fox handed her a bottle of water.

She pulled off her therma hood and took a long swig of warm H20, it glided across her dry tongue and seemed to evaporate before being swallowed.  
Her cheeks were red and raw from the thrashing sand carried by the wild winds, the jagged mountains were steep and dropped it down on top of them.  
It was almost as oppressive as the heat which physically minimized a person's want to move, the ground was nothing more than sand and rock that reflected the sunlight all too well.  
The rays of heat bounced off almost every surface and made vision nearly impossible even through the tinted visor of her hood.  
Shovel down, ass up it was a tedious process that reaped little benefits of mental and physical exhaustion.

The Cerinian vixen supported her body on the tactical shovel, her lips chapped and bled if she extended them too much "Why did you bring him?"

Fox cocked an eyebrow, his dog tags dripping sweat when he knelt over to pull out a stone "Who?"

"Lombardi." She licked her lips to keep them moist, maybe then her voice wouldn't sound so raw.

McCloud smiled digging around the black stone "Well he's probably the best flyer and most mechanically inclined under Skippy."

"...and an ass." Krystal added plunging the shovel's tip into another foot of hot burning sand.

The vulpes chuckled "He makes me laugh."

She smiled but held her breath feeling the strain of her lips "Guess that's one reason to keep him around. I just figured he'd wanna 'fly solo'."

"Aren't you glad he's here? I mean after all this?"

"Yes it's just...Fox?"

He turned his torso sideways looking over at the exhausted Krystal, her weight wavered to one side but there was no resistance.  
She collapsed in plain sight, McCloud climbed out of the hole he was digging and rushed over to her.

"Krystal?"

Falco situated his belt making sure the sidearm attached to it had easy access, the turning wheel on the hatch squeaked as he spun it.  
Before he went inside Falco cast a prolonged stare out over the desert terra, something about this place had him uneasy.  
His hand steadied himself against the small cramped hatch compartment, he closed the door behind him and cranked it until the barrier snapped shut.  
A wisp of warm desert air slipped through the door carrying a touch of sand that dropped down his collar and stuck to his sweat.  
He took a few moments for his pupils to condition to the darkness before moving down the hall, the emergency lights beeped in a red flash signifying the decontamination process.

"Standby for compartment flooding." The computer voice was followed by a warbled tune, the mechanism powered down after he ordered it to stop.

The oxygen levels here were high enough about 24% with no toxic materials detected from their atmospheric evaluation.  
Alarms dispersed into faces crowding him at the mouth of the decontamination unit, there were many voices some angry and others scared but they all blended together into a constant din.  
He pushed through them shouldering his rifle but amidst the swarm there was a eye patched canine sitting away from the rest disinterested in it all.  
Falco found it curious but not a moment later forgot as he struggled to escape the passengers panicky grasp.

Their bodies pushed him up against the door, but the last straw was their grabby hands "Look as soon as I get more information I will let you know. For now I haven't any! So give me space."

He pushed them off and patted down his Air Force coat, the eye patched shepherd smiled pushing his knife deep into the center of an apple he held.  
A little while later Falco reached the foyer and found it a tangled mess of electrical wires and cords dangled in a jungle of ship carnage, he weaved ducked and crawled through the live ones.  
Debris and disorganized items cluttered the angled hallway, the wall warped and dented under his feet since it was not designed to carry him.  
In a flick of a wrist and patterned tap of fingers on the containment chambers touch screen a whoosh of heavy steel door allowed access into it.  
He spread his legs apart narrowly holding him on the round frame of the entrance, in a sudden drop Falco hit the bars of a cell startling the inmates.  
The Avian pilot slung his high powered plasma rifle over him walking atop from cell to cell, in his hands were a chart of attendance.  
In the list were names of each offender and as he read them off there was one name in particular that his eyes kept on.

"How's the efforts of our valiant couple?" Below him the voice came and he crouched down looking into the pit of cell.

"They're just fine, don't worry about your boyfriend Zeke." He sneered at the prisoner as he came near the light shinning down in the cell.

"Dana! Get down here." The shadow of a tall sleek Komodo Dragon dropped down behind him "Back to you cell sweetness."

She hissed angrily licking the stale ship air "Sure...Captain." her forked tongue slithering at him.

The ex-military dragon hopped into her holding compartment "Nice flying by the way Copernicus."

His shoulders raised in a chuckle "Tell you what Sweetness..." he licked his finger and flipped over another page "..when we're flying off this Hell hole I'll let you pilot all the way to Corneria prison."

Ryan's tongue sucked in as she grind her teeth, Falco could hear a faint growl and he smiled "Ya'll have a nice night now."


	3. Krystal Clear

Chapter 3

Krystal Clear

Somewhere in the cold desert a frightened Fox cradled Krystal's unconscious body in his arms, it was midway through the race back to the ship when the exhaustion of five miles caught up to him.  
As if walking at night wasn't hard enough the sand shifted and dropped under his combat boots laboring his heavy march.  
His only light were the dim stars and a lazy commit amidst them but there was no lunar landscape just darkness...a supernatural darkness suffocating it's hosts.  
He thought back to earlier that day, on their trip out they noticed what were cave-ins scattered about the terra.  
Holes that went way down out of sight into a bottomless pit, Krystal had grabbed the small charm chained around her neck.  
Fox had come to trust Krystal's instinctual powers, they were an invaluable asset-a gift of telepathic conscious exposed to the surrounding world like an open nerve.  
It's no wonder then when she acted suspiciously Fox kept his eyes and ears on the her,  
he couldn't even begin to understand the capabilities of a Cerinian nor imagine those migraines that bothered her so.

When they did come...it was a frightening event for those present, and perhaps dangerous.  
There were few things Krystal refused to talk about even with Fox, her home planet and migraines were two of which.  
The mystery fascinated him with a morbid curiosity...however it wasn't worth his relationship with her.  
He could feel the impact of her body weight on his knees with every step, the StarFox team leader looked down at her.

"Zartek," They were coming up on the wall of rock on the opposite side of the ship when Krystal muttered something but Fox couldn't recognize the incoherent speech...

A brown briefcase swayed back in forth down the school hallway attached to the hands of a teacher, or so he looked.  
His eyes shifted among the floor tiles somewhat hard to see behind the important purpose of being here, a loud creak of a wooden door raised his eyes ahead of him.  
He was entering the classroom when a noticeable change of atmosphere passed over him, a small vixen sat aside herself cuddled in the corners of a dark room.

"Krystal, honey this is Professor Zartek. He's here to help you." He turned over to the teacher, whispered and left her.

She could hear the shuffling of his feet over the carpet floor as he came near then the clicking of his briefcase as it opened "Hello my dear..."

The vixen pulled in her legs and held them tightly in her arms "Why'd you tell her to leave? Am I dangerous?"

There was a laugh of surprise at how well her hearing served her "No Krystal, I just wanted us to talk."

The eyes of a troubled young girl wandered over him in a curious but guilty peruse "Is he?" white papers he laid out on the desk.

"You hurt him pretty badly." Zartek put the briefcase down near his legs "He may have permanent brain damage."

"I didn't do it. He just started choking, the teacher said his collar was too tight." She tucked her limbs in even tighter than before, the burning tears streaming down her cheeks.

"We both know that's not true...now what did poor Ricard do?" The young girl rolled up the green sleeve over her arm and lifted it up to him.

He carefully inspected her arm through his glasses "He bit you did he?" Krystal nodded tears held within her swollen eyes.

The older man's mouth wrinkled a smile and putting his old hand under her chin continued "Oh, hoho my dear...we have big plans for you."

..."Falco, open up!" The force of his hand knocking on the hatch split Fox's dry knuckles.

Lombardi rushed through the foyer doors cradling his plasma rifle, the lights above shuttering "Who is it?" A young lab sprung from her sitting position to meet him at the hatch, all the while being watched distantly by that black Shepherd.

She had stepped over a few sleeping bodies to reach him late at night "I don't know Lassie does it look like I can see through walls?"

He chambered a cold round of plasma in the semi-auto rifle cocking an eyebrow in that typical Falco guise "The name is Jayda." she scoffed, her tattered brown shirt barely holding onto her brown body if it weren't for the bony shoulders poking through it's mangled sleeves.

A long indigo feather came up over her mouth "Shhhh! Would you quiet down kid. You wanna wake up the whole damn ship?"

Her eyes narrowed in annoyance but following him into the cramped narrow passageway to the hatch replied "Oh and you won't be with a round of that?" Falco stopped, slid the sling of his rifle down his arm and readied himself "Just stay quiet."

The avian pilot shone his flashlight through the window on the two, he lifted the plasma rifle off him "What the Hell happened out there?"

Fox mustered what little strength he had left giving her to Lombardi "Here, take her." almost immediately after the vulpes kneeled down catching the breath which seemed to elude his grasp.

Krystal's limbs dangled over Falco's arms and he had to re-situate her body too keep from slipping out of his grapple.

There were plenty of questions but neither of them were capable of answering, "Make way. Jayda come with me. I need you to open the doors, and if at all possible stay out of my way." each section of the hull had doors should one of them fail another would keep a secure seal inside, but this made stepping over each individual threshold difficult.

He laid her down upon the cold metal floor carefully resting Krystal's head "What do you think is wrong with her?"

"I'm a pilot girly, not a doctor." Falco's shoulders raised in a stumped manner as he analyzed her body.

Words barely ripped from his mouth when another voice shouted over him "Heatstroke!" one that hadn't contacted either of their ears.

"Huh?" They stopped.

"Heatstroke." The shepherd replied kneeling at Krystal's unconscious body, his scared left eye covered in a black eye patch.

"And just how would you know that?" Falco lent an ear to her mouth listening for breathing.

The stranger looked down, his blue eyes studying her "The obvious signs of course. Her complexion has a red tint and temperature rising along with her heart rate. However does it not seem odd at all that she's not sweating?"

Falco watched him stand with his green backpack a rather unnerving smile on his face like, like he enjoyed knowing something they didn't "Sally! Come here."

His eyes dropped down the peculiar man's body, he was wearing a plain red shirt which had been bleached and stained with sweat "You wanna assist Mr Lombardi and his friend here."

Another person was coming, a lizard lady now and she waved her long scaly tail as she came "My names Sally, I'm a nurse."

The shepherd perched himself where he had been the past four days "Well that's just wonderful we got the whole crew here." his ears listening attentively to Falco, Jayda and Sally as he'd done since they crashed here "What do you propose we do nurse Sally?"

"We need to wake her up." Sally pushed her hands through Krystal's arms and locked paws around the Cerinian's stomach.

He turned over the next page of a paperback book multitasking as it were, reading but also listening "You need to bring her temperature down first. I suggest showering the vixen in cool water." his eye followed Krystal's body till it met Sally.

The two of them, Falco and Jayda paused, passed a glance at each other and then to Sally who did and then didn't acknowledge him.

"Who is he?" Jayda whispered in Falco's ear, both of them lifted Krystal's legs-he looked over at the stranger "I don't know." they locked eyes him and he until the walls of the foyer drew them apart.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Falco, Jayda and Sally shuffled into the medical bay Krystal's body gangly hanging in their arms "Turn on the monitor inside."

Jayda shifted through a huddle of gurneys assembled closely at the sliding doors, they rolled over and crashed on top of each other forcing an angered growl from Falco "Hey careful!" he danced narrowly avoiding a falling object.

The teen slipped into a small opening between the carts and frame of door, her hips wiggling the chocolate lab's slender figure through.  
Falco turned over and meandered Sally, she was his height and fit into her clothes nicely filling the shapes of a woman's body without scant.  
He wasn't interested so much in that but instead her affiliation with that stranger; she was still looking up at Jayda her darker than night eyes fixed onto the teen.  
Then again she was pretty attractive, her wavy curves and modest clothing...rather rough clothing.

An awkward paused followed when her eyes met him, they reflected the suspect expression in his "Where's the Doc?"

"Who him? He's not a doctor." Sally knew he'd been looking her over, a slight smirk bent the reptile's lips.

As his bill spread apart a smart-a-s reply nesting sharply upon his tongue a noise of tremendous clanking smothered it.  
A jarring impact shook his head in a dizzy dismay of double vision and splitting pain leading to an agonizing grunt.

"Okay it's clear, come through." Jayda exclaimed, a wave of litter crashing down into the hallway filled with iatric devices.

He stumbled a little, held his head with both hands and peaked through his fingers "Son, of a b-itch!"

Slightly a hiss slipped through Sally's mouth-a stifled laugh, she cleared her throat hiding it cleverly in precedence before grabbing Krystal's paws.  
Carefully they laid her body down into a cocoon shaped compartment, bright ultraviolet lights gleamed out practically blinding them.  
There was a whir of electrical energy being pushed from one source to the next before it's panel initiated.  
A mechanism hovered closely over Krystal's blue body scanning every inch via ionized radiation providing an in depth spectrum.  
He tapped the shattered glitching remains of the attached screen panel, an image of her entire musculoskeletal structure and thermal readings fluttered.

"Looks like he was right. Her body temperature is at 55 Celsius and rising." Falco verbalized the warning indicators and slid them across the panel onto the much larger screen ahead of them.

"Is that bad?" Jayda approached the digital display examining her vitals.

Sally looked down into the transparent chamber at her "Yes. I fear if it continues to increase her thermoregulation process won't be able to bring her temperature down."

"I'm guessing that's a bad thing." The Labrador's ears stiffened tail dropping down from an elevated position.

"Yes, and if we don't get her to cool down it may be too late." Falco chimed breaching the chamber, hydra vapor spilled over his wings in a dew.

Meanwhile:

"Did you hear that?" An ill-behaving smile bowed the lips of a prisoner "Sounds like StarFox is a little busy." His tongue rolling around long dripping teeth.

The alien's slimy webbed fingers gripped the iron bars of his cell, he gasped for breath pushing air in through his gills.  
He could smell the anxiety airing off their bodies in the rooms down the hallway, their silhouettes of shedding aromas.  
His nails clicking on the metal as he raised up his poor posture snapping every vertebra on the way up.  
He had been waiting for an opportunity like this when their guards were down, then he'd have his revenge on all of those fools who dare challenged him.  
The chains rattled with his humongous tail as it slithered back and forth unsettling his restraints, quietly he rasped his cold blooded heart beating slowly.  
No one could stop him this time, they were lucky to have captured such a warrior-such a talented killer.  
Bloodsaw smiled wickedly curling his lips in a terrible grin, he was set aside from the rest of the prisoners since they knew his telepathy could kill.  
Contact with such a manipulator poisoned the mind slowly confusing each victim, an ability his species possessed.

Since most of their world was underwater with some landscape being mostly giant river rocks on which they bathed verbal communication was inadequate.  
And so development of this far side of the brain became essential, he grasp the bars and bent them with ease.  
His arms flexed raising backwards until it snapped dislocating from the scapula, he pushed passed the pain forcing them forward until yet again they cracked in place.  
The other prisoners could not see him but the sounds of bone and cartilage crackling was more than enough to raise hair.  
He pulled out his hands from the cuffs, the secretion providing a rather slipping advantage for escape.  
Those black eyes, listless eyes like a doll's eyes blinked a white membrane-his arms fell down at his sides before moving through the bars.

Slowly the Alien walked thud, thud a happy sigh of freedom traveled down the cells reaching Dana's cell.  
Their ears tuned sharply to the rhythmic lazy stride coming to them, Dana and few other prisoners stood up at the bars.  
A long slumped over shadow casting down in front of them but disappearing and reappearing ahead of twinkling lights.  
She held on tight to the bars pushing her chest up against the cell trying to see who it was but he laid just out of sight.

He stopped at the first cell scrapped his long claws on the bar "Hello?" a voice replied from inside but Bloodsaw simply smiled unrolling his tongue.

The lights went pitch black a shimmer of light off Bloodsaw's teeth and a laugh "I hope you practiced your scream. You'll be using it soon."

Dana pushed back up against the wall of her cell sliding down to her buttocks, it started off with a faint whine followed by more diabolical noises.  
She covered her ears and closed her eyes only after seeing the light glimmer illuminating his odd body shape shaking what appeared to be another prisoner.

Even through her palms the horrifying screams pierced "Falco!"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

He took a smashed pack of smokes out from his back pocket, pulled one out with his lips and lit it with his other hand.  
Lombardi savored every trapped ounce of nicotine inside its paper sheath, he enjoyed the quiet drab landscapes ahead of him, it gave him little to process after a long day.  
It gave him time, time to think about the revolving thoughts of yesterday-they stuck to him like a leech.  
This is what sitting in that damned pilot seat did to him, it slowly eroded his fortitude and left him idle...

...back in the golden days, back in the Cornerian special forces 'heh' well, that was back before the afterlife of being a mercenary pilot.  
There were no such things as limits on a soldier, the Commanding Officers had ways of moving men past the fatigue, the emotional stress and sweat.  
You were a piece of surgically precise equipment, when things weren't try till you get it right but try until you can't get it wrong.  
They called you a hero, but all too many times you became the eraser-eliminating the existence of enemy confrontation.  
Days blent together and faces of your officers until they were just a dirty set of army slacks and camo boots.  
The terra ripped and snagged on anything it could, everything there wanted to stick, cut or bite you.

The days were brutal and nights frigid, a place that drove hardened men mad with delirium and insomnia.  
'Those were the days' the enemy hid in tall brush so close they could reach out and slap you on the back like some sick sadistic game.  
Other times on warm nights when men were spread out they'd come quietly in the shadows stealing a man but he'd be so exhausted from the day before no resistance was given.  
Just the noises, the God awful noises heard through thick vegetation of a man being tortured despite the heavy showers of rain subduing most sounds.  
And if it wasn't the enemy surely the cold would kill, most nights they spent huddling together like penguins sheltering their body heat.  
Other methods weren't so comfortable but crucial, like sheltering in place where they'd climb on top of each other for warmth.  
The trees and vegetation closed in on them giving an anxious sensation of claustrophobia, they were the first team to infiltrate enemy territory.  
A soldier had but only his infrared binoculars and wits, but they had been smart and took precautions by wearing thermal blankets to throw off readings.

Many men died without making peace or second thoughts of joining before the whisking sounds of a ammunition cut through the vegetation bringing them down.  
He was lucky to be alive, but 'I guess a little of us all died in that damn war' Lombardi smoked an extra long drag.  
An unfortunate breeze blew the smoke in his face, his eyes combated the stinging with water.  
His battalion was awarded the highest accolades but no shinny medals would ever replace the sleepless nights...

The presence of someone else mingling back to the present pulled him out of the intrenched thoughts.  
His head turned at the coming stranger, the blinding sunlight overcoming Falco's vision-a man dropped a green pack by his legs and sat down beside Lombardi.  
A signature smile on his face connecting to dimples and a hooded blue eye over brown freckles, it was that curious stranger.

"How's she doing?" Jayda stood beneath the doorway straddling the hallway carpet and room shag.

Sally soaked a white hand towel in water and padded down Krystal's feverish sweat "She's doing okay. How's Fox?" the Labrador crossed her arms and leaned against the frame of door.

"He's okay, they have him in his quarters." The young teen hitched the waistband of her pants a skeptical browse over the lizard lady "So who's your friend?"

She stopped, reached over Krystal's dormant body and placed the bucket of cool water on a stool "Who?" she clapped her hands together.

"The doctor." Jayda twirled the black ponytail of hair in her fingers, Sally smiled rubbed her head, raised up and turned to the lab "He's not a doctor. He's just very intuitive."

She continued to the door shutting off the light, the lab stepped out into the foyer letting the curvy lizard lady come through.

Sally walked down the hallway her tail waving harmoniously with her hips, Jayda caught up to the woman "Oh. So is he like your boyfriend?"

The nurse looked down at Jayda an earlier expression sedated by a more serious one "He's my teacher." the lab sucked in her panting tongue, stopped and cocked her head.

The sticky juices of an orange ran down the shepherds palm and he wiped it off on his cargo pants peeling back it's citrus shelter "Beautiful day isn't it?" he smiled handing a slice of orange to him.

Falco looked down at the carpel hesitated and then appropriated it "You shouldn't smoke. It's not good for you."

He leaned forward putting his weight on his knees as he stood up, swung his pack around him and latched the harness a smile resting on his lips.

He rolled his lips, dropped his chin and started paring away at the residue of orange under his claws, "What's your name?"

The long strands of wildly blonde hair fell over his eyes, he had to pull the angel hair pasta back and drape it behind his tall ears.

Lombard wandered over him with a curious guise, the shepherd scratched his partially chewed ear-cheeks raised and eyes squinted at the reflective shuttle tiles of the Geat Fox "See you around."

His cheek resting on his shoulder as the shepherd walked away, Lombardi smothered his last cigarette on the underside of his boot.

Traces of smoke snorted out of his nostrils, another comb of eastern wind blew his tall spiking blue bristles.

Maybe now would be the time to check on Fox and probably the conditions of their prisoners.

Falco rolled over on his hip, planted his palm on the surface and pushed up, he didn't know how to keep their 'additional cargo' secret now that they were stranded.

The prisoners were a covert operation entrusted to them by Peppy, especially dangerous cargo but it paid especially well.

'_Fox?' _His eyes rolled around under his eyelids before coming to, _'Fox?' _a whisper through the closed door drifted over him.

A sensation rolling over his skin like a frozen ocean wave, it crashed over him with goosebumps and a cold sweat _'There's no where you can hide from meee.'_

Fox raised his upper body but no one was around him except a lingering sense of danger and helplessness.

Then at the foot of his bed his own shadow swirling in a whirlpool slowly made the outline of a person.

In the confusion he reached down and fired his sidearm while in it's holster alerting Sally and Jayda who quickly chased after the pop of plasma.

The shadow scattered into shards of darkness, Sally reached for the doorknob but it was held still from the inside "Fox?!"

Then with a whoosh of hallway air Fox stood in front of them his complexion a shade lighter than usual "Falco, where is he?"

There wasn't enough time given to respond before he went down the hallway "I need him now. Do you know if he's down in containment units?"

"Why would he be down there?" Sally was briskly following him an eyebrow cocked with curiosity.

He shifted sideways to fit through some ship wreckage "I think he may have misplaced some cargo of mine."

Sally pinched his shoulder with a steadying grasp "Fox slow down. What happened in there?"

It didn't slow him down one bit, instead he pulled out of her hand "Nothing, just get me Lombardi."


End file.
